US vs. The World - by Mac McMeans

A beautiful day in southern California was the backdrop for the first annual USA vs. The World, in a world cup-style skating event. The best professional rollerbladers from all over the world gathered with hundreds of spectators to witness an intense Game of Skate.  Not just any Game of skate, but a new team version of Skate. Everyone had their own different opinion of how the Game would end up, but one thing everyone was sure of was that the competition would be fierce, as the winners would be branded World Champions.

The goal of the Game was to score points by matching and landing tricks. A skater scores 2 points for landing a trick in the first try and 1 point if he needs two. The game consists of 6 rounds and the teams take turns in calling and answering the tricks. Check out www.RfccAllStars.com for a complete set of rules.

Throughout the comp, the World and the US ran neck to neck. The World team took the lead with Carlos (hardcore brazil) Pianowski doing a fakie backflip. None of the US team could answer to that, but Aaron Fienberg took the challenge. Having never done the trick, Aaron took one attempt and bailed. The 2nd attempt was a success, but fell @ the end. The US didn’t get the points, but Aaron took a unofficial 3rd attempt for the street credit proving that he holds it down. 

Frankie Morales attempted a soyale to alleyoop topside soyale to 270 soyale 270 out, failed in the first try and landed it in the second, scoring one point. Chaz Sands accepted the challenge and landed the trick in a super solid first try, earning 2 points and sending shock waves through the US camp. The score was 9:7 for the World and the question was if anybody could stop the World with a performance like this.

The tide turned after Haffey answered Chaz Sands with a first try 450 disaster front royale on the launch box which set the tone for the Americans. Next, Stockwell scored 2 points and big cheers from the audience when he one upped Richie Eisler’s backslide 270 farv with a backslide 270 farv to soul. Bailey did alleyoop top acid on the big box after Al hooi took a huge spill trying that on the big down ledge clinching the US team to take the win. Murda impressed the crowds with a solid backslide backslide to topsoul to alleyoop soul down. Needless to say that this trick remained unmatched. So did Frankie's last trick an impressive backslide to 270 topsoul to switch soul 360 out. The game ended with a narrow 25 : 21 victory for the US.

Stockwell was the one that amazed the crowds the most making MVP for the US team, by scoring 9 points. He scored in every single round but one and had 3 first try unanswered tricks. Carlos was the top scorer of the World team with 6 points.

See the complete list attached. A complete edit of the game will be available on www.RFCCAllStars.com later this month.

Look out for the next battle of the titans later this summer: East Coast vs West Coast

Apollo Baldez and Andy Wegener contributed to this article.

The goal of the game is to score points by landing and matching tricks. One rider of the first team has to call and land a trick and the other team has to appoint a rider to match it. Then the second rider of the first team does a trick and the second team sends in another rider. The round is over when all skaters have skated. In the second round the second team calls the trick and the first team has to match it. The team with the most points after 8 rounds wins.

There are no limitations to the location or obstacles of the game. Park or street -- anything goes (no vert). The goal is to make it as hard as possible for the other team to match the trick.

What makes this game exciting for skaters and viewers is the strategy that comes into play: Since each rider is only allowed to skate once per round, the team has to carefully pick the rider to match a trick. In case of an extremely hard trick it might be smarter to send a weaker rider and save the better one for later. Similar to a chess game the teams have to carefully consider the strength and abilities of the riders of the opposing team and anticipate any tricks they might do.

THE Game “US vs. The World”
Mark your calendar for Jan 7, 2006: This is the launch date of THE Game at the brand new skate park in Escondido, CA -- a park with probably the biggest obstacles in the world VIEW IMAGES

Escondido Sports Center
3315 Bear Valley Parkway
Escondido, CA 92025

The BLVD 
925 West San Marcos Blvd.
San Marcos Ca 92069
P: 760.510.0004

Dress to impress!

Nominees (in alphabetical order):